USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Duxbury > Historic Duxbury in Plymouth county, Massachusetts, 3rd ed. > Part 7
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I deem it a great piece of good fortune that, coming from the moun- tains, desirous of having a summer residence on the seacoast, I came where I did and when I did. Many, when they come down through these pine woods and over these sandy hills to see us, wonder what drew Mr. Webster to Marshfield. Why, gentlemen, I tell them it was partly good sense, but more good fortune. I had got a pleasant spot, I had lands about me diversified, my fortune was to fall into a kind neighborhood, among men with whom I never had any difficulty, with whom I had entered into a well-understood covenant, that I would talk with them on farming, and fishing, and of neighborhood concerns, but I would never speak a word to them, or they to me, on law or politics. They have kept their side of the bargain, and I have kept mine.
It is somewhat remarkable to notice in this last year of the century how the fame of Mr. Webster has grown, consider- ing, too, that probably the great majority of his countrymen now think that many of his public actions of the last twenty years of his life were political mistakes. Of the eminent public men who lived in his time, from the first quarter to the middle of this century, he seems to be the only one whose speeches, legal arguments, or writings are much read today, or which will have a place in the literature of the language; and perhaps one of the reasons for this is the aptitude of his phrases - that however much his words might be weighty with thought, their expression was simple and direct.
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KINGSTON AND GREEN HARBOR.
Mr. Webster owned a farm in New Hampshire, where he was born and bred, which he used occasionally to visit. He once said, that in three days of the year he could see all there was to be seen up there, but he could find something new for every day of the year in Marshfield. Mr. Webster had a large library in the Gothic addition on the left side of the house shown in the illustration ; this he particularly valued, as it was planned by his daughter Julia, who died quite early in life. Ile had in it many curious and interesting articles presented to him by societies and friends ; but he considered as almost the most valuable of his possessions the thirteen silver medals which the Old Continental Congress had presented on different occasions to General Washington ; and this was the way they came into his possession : At an early date in the century one of the Wash- ington heirs offered them to Congress for a reasonable sum. The lawgivers took the matter under consideration, and pro- foundly discussed it pro and con, at several sessions. Mr. Webster, who was in Congress at the time, feared that the purchase would not be made, and proposed to his wife, who was about to buy an expensive shawl, that she should use the money in buying the medals, to which she gladly consented. Finally after a due amount of consideration Congress con- cluded to buy them,- but the chance was gone. The house of Mr. Webster, an illustration of which fronts this chapter, was burned some twenty years ago, and a more modern residence built upon the spot, which his grandchildren inhabited till their death. It is now the property of Mr. Walton Hall, a Boston merchant. There is only one building left on the place that was
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HISTORIC DUXBURY.
there in the time of Mr. Webster. This one is a sort of garden- house, in which the Ashburton Treaty with England was made, IS40-50, Lord Ashburton visiting Mr. Webster at the time.
A short distance from the mansion is Old Burial Hill, on which is the ancient burial ground of the town. In front of the enclosure stood the ancient church. There was a stone in this yard bearing date 1651, but it has long since fallen into fragments. The oldest one that can be deciphered now bears the date of 1699. In about the cen- ter of the enclosure is the Winslow tomb, covered by a stone slab, on which is elabo- rately cut the Winslow coat of arms, an WINSLOW ABMS IN PILGRIM HALL illustration of which is shown as a tail- piece to this chapter. The slab containing the original coat of arms was so chipped by relic-hunters that it was removed to Pilgrim Hall in Plymouth, as previously stated, and a new one set in its place, which bears this inscription :
THE HON. JOSIAH WINSLOW, GOV. OF NEW PLYMOUTH, DYED DEC. Ye 18, 1680, . ETATIS 52. PENELOPE Ve WIDOW OF GOV. WINSLOW, DYED DEC. Ye 7, 1703, ETATIS 73. THE HON. ISAAC WINSLOW, ESQ., DYED DEC. Ye 14, 1738, ETATIS 67. IION. JOSIAH WINSLOW, ESQ., DIED APRIL 17, 1774, 2ETATIS 72. ISAAC WINSLOW, M.D., DIED OCTOBER 24, 1819, AGED 80. JOIIN WINSLOW, ESQ., DIED AT NATCHEZ, AUG. 24, 1822, AGED 48.
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KINGSTON AND GREEN HARBOR.
This tomb is known to contain the remains of other mem- bers of the Winslow family, but the names of few of them can now be ascertained. Within the enclosure are burial stones to the memory of other members of this family.
Forming a part of this enclosure is the Webster lot, con- taining the Webster tomb, and stones about it to the several members of the Webster family. This burial ground is neatly enclosed with a fence, the proceeds of a fair held in Marsh- field in 1854.
The view from the hill is varied and interesting; to the north lies a wide extent of salt marsh, from which the town derives its name; to the south and west, woods sprinkled with settle- ments, and about two miles distant to the east is the ocean.
Nearly all the people who knew Mr. Webster have passed on ; but one who was intimate with him as his farm foreman, Mr. Porter Wright, still lives in a cottage that was once a part of the Webster farm.
Near the "Webster place" on the same road, stands the pleasant home of the late Adelaide Phillips, the well-known songstress, who held a high place among the musical fra- ternity. She, too, sleeps on the Old Burial Hill, within sight and sound of the sea she loved so well.
Lo REEN
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HISTORIC DUXBURY.
XIV.
THE FRENCH CABLE.
" I'LL put a girdle round about The earth in forty minutes."
A S the North American end of the cable is in Duxbury, a brief description will be given of the company, and the ceremonies that took place at the time it was landed, in July, 1869.
The concession for laying and operating this cable was granted to Baron Emile d'Erlinger of Paris and Julius Reuter of London, in 1868, by the French Government, and conveyed the right to run a cable from France to the United States, and to work it for twenty years, under the conditions that no soil other than the United States and France be touched by the cable in its transit, and the price of a dispatch of twenty words not to exceed twenty dollars. The French Government bound itself not to grant any other concessions for lines between these two countries during this period. The company was organized with a capital of $6,000,000, and it is said that in less than eight days the subscription list was filled by the most reliable banking houses of Europe. In a very short time the shares were selling at a premium of two to three per cent at the London and Paris exchanges. The company that manufac- tured the Anglo-American cable was given the contract of making and laying this one. Routes were surveyed, and the
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THE FRENCH CABLE.
one adopted went from Brest to the southern end of the Grand Bank, thence to the French island of St. Pierre, off the south coast of Newfoundland, and thence down past Cape Breton Island and Nova Scotia to the shore of Massachusetts. The length of cable from Brest to St. Pierre is 2,584 miles; from St. Pierre to Duxbury, 749 miles; the line has a total length, therefore, of 3,333 miles from end to end, nearly 1,200 miles more than the Anglo-American cable. The bed of the cable, extending from deep water off Brest to the junction with the shore end of St. Pierre, lies on one of those great plateaus which are known to exist at the bottom of the Atlantic. This plateau is at a depth of about two thousand fathoms. The cable was laid in the arc of a great circle, the ,most northern point being in about latitude forty-eight, and the most south- ern point is about latitude forty-two. When approaching the Grand Bank it was laid far enough away to insure a depth below the grounding line of icebergs. Although the depth to which icebergs actually reach is unknown, it is assumed by experts to be as low sometimes as ninety fathoms. From St. Pierre a line was taken that avoided the anchorage ground of fishing vessels, and was in such comparatively shoal water that repairs might be easily made.
The draught of cable sections shown in the illustration are the actual size, and show the manner of construction.
The central core is composed of copper wires; around this are placed gutta percha and Chatterton's compound, the former being the insulation material; around this is wound tarred manilla, and over all is twisted iron wire, either bare or covered
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HISTORIC DUXBURY.
by strands of tarred manilla, which is said to be nearly inde- structible under the action of salt water.
The ocean cable No. I is light, weighing only 3,500 pounds to the mile.
The vessel used for carrying and laying this cable was the
SECTIONS OF CABLE FULL SIZE NO 1 BREST TO ST. PIERRE ST. PIERRE TO DUXBURY SHORE ENDS
NO.1.
NO.2.
NO. 3.
"Great Eastern," the largest vessel ever built, some twenty thon- sand tons burden, and this was the best use to which the great ship had been put. The cable was stowed in three great tanks. The main one held 1, 112 miles of cable, the after one 912, and
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THE FRENCH CABLE.
the forward one 728 miles. Ingenious and heavy machinery was used for this work, great drums for paying-out and wind- ing-up purposes, and large iron buoys for buoying the cable when necessary. Three vessels accompanied the " Great Eastern" to lay the shore ends, each fitted with similar machinery, including grappling irons, tongs, and picking-up apparatus.
The "Great Eastern" left Brest about the middle of June and reached St. Pierre about the middle of July, while two of the smaller vessels, the "Chiltern " and the " Sanderia," pro- ceeded to Duxbury with the cable for this end, and arrived off Rouse's Hummock on Friday, the 23d. It was a beau- tiful summer day, the sea unruffled. Two large boats were lashed together and a platform built over them, on which enough cable was coiled up to reach the shore. To this sort of raft was attached a large boat manned with sailors. At a sig- nal they were cast loose from the "Chiltern," and the sailors, bending to their oars, moved slowly to the beach. People had come down from Boston to witness this landing, as well as many from the surrounding country, to the number, it is said, of a thousand people. When the boats reached the beach the sailors seized the cable and dragged it up the beach to the Hummock amid cheers from the people, waving of hand- kerchiefs, and an artillery salute from the "Chiltern" and " Sanderia." It is said that many of the gentlemen who came from Boston also seized hold of the cable and assisted in pull- ing it up the beach. A message was at once sent to the Emperor Napoleon in France, announcing the successful ter-
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mination of the enterprise, and an answer was received back, showing the connection was perfect. One message was re- ceived announcing the rise in the price of cable shares in Paris.
The City of Boston, thinking the occasion great enough to warrant their official action, appointed a committee of aldermen and councilmen to make arrangements for celebrating the important event. On the day succeeding the landing this com- mittee, with Mayor Shurtleff, visited Duxbury, and tendered their co-operation, in the name of the city, in celebrating the occasion. This was done on the following Tuesday by a salute of one hundred guns on Boston Common, and the display of the national colors from the public buildings. A local committee had been formed in the meantime, consisting of the late Mr. S. N. Gifford, clerk of the Senate, and other gentlemen of the town, and arrangements made to have a celebration. A large tent was pitched on Abram's Hill, a plateau north of Powder Point, to which an extension of Cove Street now leads. This spot overlooks the ocean, the Hummock, the track of the cable across the marsh, the town, bay, etc. In this tent plates were laid for six hundred guests. In the words of the day : " The flags of America, France, and England were grace- fully and lovingly intertwined, a fitting symbol of the senti- ments of peace and good-will, which this electric cord binding together the three nations, tends to fasten and cement." The accounts of the time also say that "among the distinguished arrivals were Sir James Anderson, Lord Cecil, Viscount Parker, Mayor Shurtleff, Mons. Britsch, a noted French electrician, Judge Russell, Professor Pierce of Harvard College,
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THE FRENCH CABLE.
Mr. Watson, the financial agent of the cable company, and many others."
Governor Claflin sent down a light battery with twenty-five men, a banquet followed with the usual toasts, responded to by the noted gentlemen present. Messages were received during the exercises from the prefect of Paris, addressed to the mayor of Boston. The festivities of the day were appropriately closed by an entertainment given by the late George W. Wright and his accomplished wife, at their residence, where in addition to the distinguished guests of the day, the governor of the state, Governor Claflin, was present.
The tailpiece following shows a part of the alphabet as now used. This is a facsimile of full size. It is on a paper- tape seven-tenths of an inch in width, and the operator writes off the message as it unrolls. When not recording a message the instrument makes a straight line of dots in the middle of the tape, as is shown at the beginning and ending, before T and after E. The system is a modification of the original Morse method of dots and dashes, that were given by sound. The same general idea is here followed, dots being above the line and dashes below it. The recording instrument is the invention of Sir William Thompson, and has been in use since 1877.
H
E
N
E
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HISTORIC DUXBURY.
XV.
THIE CELEBRATION OF THE TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE TOWN'S SETTLEMENT.
THIS anniversary occurred on June 17, 1887, and this was also the anniversary of the battle of Bunker Hill, with which the celebration will always be connected. A committee was chosen by the town at the annual town meeting of 1886 to consider the subject, and report at the town meeting in 1887. This committee comprised Laurence Bradford, Wil- liam J. Wright, William J. Alden, Jr., and LeBaron Goodwin. This committee devised various ways of raising money, and by the next town meeting had collected a considerable sum and re- ceived what they considered was sufficient encouragement to go ahead, if the town would make an appropriation. An appro- priation was made, and the same committee reappointed and increased in number. The town's contribution was augmented by many gifts from private sources ; so, having money enough, the undertaking was pushed rapidly. Mr. William J. Wright was made chairman of the committee, and it is through his exertions that the celebration was made so much of a success. The writer was not present, being in Montana at the time, and so can give no account of the proceedings from personal knowl- edge, but a description is added, published in a Boston paper at the time, written by Mr. Wendell O. Hunt, who witnessed the exercises :
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250TH ANNIVERSARY.
CELEBRATION OF DUXBURY'S QUARTER. MILLENNIAL.
For an hour after sunrise on the morning of June 17 the bells of all the churches were rung, while at several points discharges of cannon were heard. The people were abroad early, and the streets were alive with happy groups. Here an old man welcomes his former schoolmates with a warm grasp of the hand, and recalls some youthful frolic: there some school children of today, with bright faces and white dresses, hurry to be ready for their part in the exercises.
From far and near, by trains, in carriages, and on foot, the number con- stantly increased, until the neighborhood of Soule's Corner presented an unwonted scene, for here the first exercises of the day commenced by a review of the three Grand Army posts, constituting the Plymouth Rock battalion, which took place at 8 o'clock. The day was warm, the sky was clear, and everybody was happy and proud.
At 9 o'clock a concert by the American Band of South Weymouth was given at the South Duxbury station. The first train from Boston brought a large number of the sons and daughters of old Duxbury, who had returned to the homes of their childhood to help celebrate the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of her incorporation. At 10 o'clock the formation of the procession began, and at 10.20 a special train arrived from Boston, bringing Governor Ames and the invited guests, who were welcomed with a salute of seventeen guns. Promptly at 10.45 o'clock the procession moved from South Duxbury station, under the direction of James Downey, a war veteran of the Thirty-eighth Massachusetts Volunteers, chief mar- shal, assisted by the following as aids: Samuel Atwell, Jr., James H. Killian, John H. Haverstock, and George B. Wright.
The procession moved from South Duxbury station by way of Hall's Corner and Main Street to the speaker's tent, on the " Harvey Baker " field, in the grounds near the handsome residence of George W. Wright, in the following order :
Chief Marshal, James Downey.
Aids, Samuel Atwell, Jr., James H. Killian, John H. Haverstock, George B. Wright. Silver Fife and Drum Corps of Plymouth.
Collingwood Post, No. 76, G. A. R. of Plymouth, Commander A. O. Brown. His Excellency, Governor Ames, and invited guests in carriages.
American Band of South Weymouth.
William Wadsworth Post, No. 165, G. A. R. of Duxbury, Commander John W. Tower.
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HISTORIC DUXBURY.
Martha Sever Post, No. 154, of Kingston, Commander George E. Owens. Randolph Band. Grand Canton Bunker Hill, I. O. O. F. of Charlestown, Commandant Major E. W. Brown. Plymouth Band. Sagamore Encampment, No. 45, I. O. O. F. of Plymouth. Adams Lodge, No. 189, I. O. O. F. of Kingston. Mattakeeset Lodge, No. 110, I. O. O. F. of Duxbury. Citizens of Duxbury and adjoining towns.
The tent was completely filled, the large audience being seated under direction of the committee. The scene was very impressive. Upon the platform in front of the table sat William J. Wright, president of the day. At his right sat Justin Winsor, librarian of Harvard University, the orator of the day, and at his left Rev. Frederick N. Knapp, the chaplain. There were also seated upon the platform His Excellency, Governor Ames, Hon. Halsey J. Boardman, president of the senate, Hon. John D. Long, M.C., Henry B. Peirce, secretary of state, Hon. George B. Loring, Hon. Ben- jamin W. Harris, Capt. J. G. B. Adams, sergeant-at-arms, George W. Wright, Myles Standish, Colonels Wild and Abbott of the Governor's staff, and others. The exercises began at 12.15. Rev. F. N. Knapp offered prayer, after which the president of the day, with a neat speech of welcome, introduced Justin Winsor, who delivered the oration.
The oration was followed by the original poem written by Miss Lucia A. Bradford, a descendant of Governor Bradford, read by Rev. F. N. Knapp :
The memories of today, They take us far away To times long gone; To times of toil and care, To scenes where joys were rare, To times of scanty fare, To us unknown.
But here were homes more true, Myles Standish, far to you, Than England's halls; Though winter's storms were drear, Though savage foes were near, Yet there was Pilgrim cheer Within your walls.
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250TH ANNIVERSARY.
The Mayflower-perfumed air Bore up the Pilgrim's prayer For labors blest. In autumn's chilly dew, Our flower of heavenly blue, Rose Standish, bloomed for you In peace and rest .*
The bluebirds in the spring Sang their sweet welcoming, To rouse and charm; Where first John Alden came, Their haunt is still the same, Still bears its Pilgrim name : " John Alden's Farm."
Here rose the precious fame Of Elder Brewster's name And works of love; From want and woe to save, And the blest hopes he gave Of rest beyond the grave, In heaven above.
This closed the exercises of the morning.
In the afternoon a series of field sports was given under the manage- ment of F. B. Knapp. At sunset a salute of guns and bells, and, as a grand finale, a beautiful display of fireworks was given in the evening on the hill near the Hollis House. The night was mild and free from dampness. No summer's evening could have been selected better adapted to out-of-door amusements.
At 9 o'clock Duxbury Hall was thrown open to the public for social intercourse, and from that time till midnight there was dancing, under the floor direction of Levi P. Simmons, one of the seventh generation of Peregrine White ; William J. Alden, Jr., a direct descendant of John Alden, and James L. McNaught, and Messrs. David S. Goodspeed, Charles P. Dorr and John W. Tower as aids.
The committee of arrangements consisted of William J. Wright, chair- man; William J. Alden, Jr., secretary ; Laurence Bradford, treasurer ; Levi P. Simmons, Hambleton E. Smith, George Bradford, Frederick B. Knapp, George W. Wright, John S. Loring, John B. Hollis, Jr., Josiah Peterson, Albert M. Thayer, Joshua W. Swift, Benjamin C. Cahoon, LeBaron Goodwin and John W. Tower.
* The fringed gentian blooms about the Standish place in October.
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HISTORIC DUXBURY.
XVI.
THE CLAM.
" INGLORIOUS friend ! Most confident I am Thy life is one of very little ease;
Albeit men mock thee with their similes, And prate of being " happy as a clam ! "
What though thy shell protects thy fragile head From the sharp bailiffs of the briny sea?
Thy valves are, sure, no safety valves to thee While rakes are free to desecrate thy bed,
And bear thee off, as foemen take their spoil, Far from thy friends and family to roam; Forced like a Hessian from thy native home
To meet destruction in a foreign broil !
Though thou art tender, yet thy humble bard Declares, O clam, thy case is shocking hard ! "
D UXBURY is known by this bivalve where Myles Standish was never heard of, and where the stories of the grey fathers, if ever heard, would be considered myths; yet if you would go further in a literal sense, the old saw of faring worse, might be reversed ; as the writer once found years ago when in an out-of-the-way place on the California coast, he was asked, on making it known that he was from the Eastern States, if he had ever seen the place where those Duxbury ships were built? This was too far for even the delicious flavor of the clam to have been wafted.
Perhaps in a homelier vein, too much praise can scarcely be given to this denizen of the flats; without him the wisdom of the early governors would have failed; the piety of Elder
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THE CLAM.
Brewster have had a short duration ; the martial valor of Myles Standish have been uselessly exercised against the enemies of the weak and struggling Colony, and John Alden's pastoral virtues never have reached an appreciative posterity.
What orators and essayists ascribe to an all-wise Providence, was justly due to the clam, or the higher influence working through him ; in other words, his claims were not acknowledged in the sequence. It was the clam that nurtured the infant Colony, which is said by some to have contained the seed of the Republic, and prevented it from following the fate of like enterprises in other parts of the country.
Daniel Webster, who lived just over the line in Marshfield, as mentioned before, was a devotee to the excellence of clam chowder, often treating his distinguished friends to that famous dish; on such occasions, it is said, he would not permit his cook to mix the ingredients and cook the chowder, saying that a clam chowder was too easily spoiled to allow an unskilled hand to make it.
The ancient glories of the Duxbury clam have now some- what departed. We are told the sinful marketmen in the cities palm off on unsuspecting purchasers a spurious article, that has never hailed at low water, or any other time, the Gurnet Lights ; be this as it may, we do not now see for sale the large-sized white-shelled . article that once abounded in the markets. The demand exceeds the supply, and they are sought so assiduously, that they have no time to grow. Why not protect them? That is easily said; but it is the same old story that is connected with the protecting of any marketable
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HISTORIC DUXBURY.
product. In the case of the clam, those who wish to protect them do not dig then, and those who personally dig, or market them, prefer the present gain to some prospective profit, which they themselves can never hope to realize, or so they think ; and also, that if protected, some other fellow will get ahead of them. You may say the game is protected ; and so it is with the choicest kinds of fish ; for the simple reason that those who hunt or angle for them are interested in their preservation. Should the time ever come when the liquor dealers wish to enforce the law against the unlawful sale of intoxicants, such unlawful sale will practically cease.
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